5A and 6….

…are open for business!!!

About 1/2 dozen boats at the Winona Dam today . Got the boat unwrapped and ready to go for the weekend.

Let us know how things go this weekend for you. I will keep my eye on how many boats are there (winona dam 5a) when I come to work the next few days.

I was there on last saturday and it was SLOW to dead ,current was fast and the water was VERY dirty.

The 2 middle rollers were down all the way, alot of current on the outsides.

Good luck to all , I will wait till the water clears up some b4 I trek back there.I was there 4 hours and saw 1 fish caught.

I had heard this rumor just yesterday, wish I had gone to look for myself – maybe I would have towed the boat to work with me today

Still looking for my first open water of the year and with the sound of the weather for the rest of the week today would have been the best chance before things ice up again – they are talking single digit lows again

On my way to work today I went past 5a and noticed one guy fishing and another either coming in or going out not sure on that one. Went past about 1:30p.m. Just a little heads up to who ever might be heading out.

2-18-09 at 1:30……….Nobody there aka 5a.

My next chance to attempt to get out will be over the weekend, maybe Sunday but my boys are both in a bowling tournament so we’ll see.

Thanks for the updates.

2-19-09……… 1 boat fishing 5a.

I spoke to a co-worker who has been out a few times and said it has been slow. They would get a few one day and then nothing the next fishing different areas between the dam and some nearby wingdams. They have fished Alma and Winona but had not gotten out at Whitman yet.

2-20-09….at 1:15 p.m. There were 5 boats fishing 5a.

Hey guys just trying to keep you up to date. Went past lock and dam 5a at 1:30 yesterday and today (2-24)and the same boat was out fishing. Dont know if he is on to something or is just wasting his time but personally I wouldnt go back out to the same spot if I didnt catch anything the day before…

I stopped by the Winona Dam last night around 5:30 and there was nobody around. I did see some tracks and there is/was a pretty decent ice shelf you need to get over to get the boat in and out but doable.

I will be out there tomorrow afternoon but not sure if I will fish Winona or try to put in at FC and motor up to Whitman. I’ll be taking the flat bottom – it takes more abuse

The landing between F.C Ford and the Wingdam looks to be wide open. With little to no ice. And the channel didnt have any ice coming down it when I looked today. Goodluck tomorrow.

I talked to a guy that said he and his partner caught 6 keepers last night at Winona. I will start there around noon today and if nothing is going I will pull out and head to Whitman. I would put in at the FC Ford landing and motor up so I can hit a few spots along the way.

Well as you will/would have seen I walked down to the landing in F.C and seen 5 vechiles at 9:30 a.m this morning. Let us know how you did up at basscamp/whitman.

I put in at Winona around Noon and fished until about 5PM last night. There were about 18 boats out there at 1:00PM but I did not see a lot of action. I caught on 16″ sauger about 12:30 and few other small ones and then it shut down for over an hour. I worked a lot of the areas around the dam and then down river about 1/2 mile hitting some shorelines and wing dams. Heard of a nice female being CPR and a few keepers and 2 pike but only personally saw about 4 fish that were kept. I tried jigs and plastic including paddletails and ringworms, live bait rigs, blades and jigging spoons. All my fish came on jigs with plastic / minnow combination and from 20 – 35′. I heard there were some guys catching a bunch of small saugers from some of the 40’+ holes but I did not go there. I should have run to Whitman but I was either stupid or stubborn. I don’t fish the Winona dam area a lot and so I forced myself to spend some more time down there yesterday.

Thanks for the great report.

It got pretty quiet on here boys . Anybody been fishing whitman or 5a. Went past 5a today about 11:30 and noticed 7 truck and trailers at the landing just wondering if anybody has heard anything.

I was below Winona dam yesterday. Pretty dead. Wind made it tough. Fished a lot of wing dams and outlets. Not much of anything. It was dead up by dam too from guys I talked to.

I’m headed to Bass Camp tonight and Alma tomorrow. If it’s bad I’ll let you know…..if it’s good, I might not

I’m going out this afternoon but I am not sure how much time I will have. I may just end up at Winona – close. I have not been out since my first voyage of the year last Wednesday.

Does anyone know if the harbor ice is out at Bass Camp?

Thanks,
Dave

I work with some one who lives at
Bass Camp says there is still 18 in. of ice in Bay.
You can use Fountain City Landing behind Ford Dealer and run up River.

Fished Winona Thursday afternoon (3:00PM – 5:30PM) but no keepers. I had caught and seen a fair number of fish but a lot of small ones. There was a Ranger 620 pulling stick baits (I think) and catching some along with the jig fishermen. I tried to stay away from the deep water (35+) but that is where the most fish seemed to be coming from. I also caught a fair number of short walleye tonight. Most of my fish were in the 20-30′ range down from the dam on jig/minnow and live bait rigs. There were some 35-42′ holes producing small saugers as quickly as you could get your bait down there. Nice afternoon to be out but should have tried Whitman. I talked to other boats at Winona that reported similar results.

Fished for about an 1 1/2hr at Bass Camp last night (Thursday). No walleye or sauger to show. Got a couple toothies on ring worms.

Didn’t see any fish caught, but there were only 5 other boats out and all were spread waaaaaay apart. I didn’t have bait, nor do I ever claim to be a pro-walleye guy…..so take it for what it’s worth.

As mentioned, there’s still ice infront of the Bass Camp landing.

There’s about 30 yards of ice to go at Trempealeau.

On my way to work today and went past 5a about 1:15 p.m. and I bet there was 20-25 truck and trailers. I might press my luck tomorrow down there but who knows.

I opted to hit Whitman today rather than Winona again and it paid off. The bite was not fast but the quality was there. 2 of us put in at 1:00PM in FC and got off the water about 5:30PM. We only boated 10 walleye, no sauger and one pike. 7 of the 10 walleye were perfect eaters, 15-17″ males. The 3 shorts were all between 14 and 14.5″ and the pike was about 10#. 4 fish caught on jigs and the rest on live bait rigs – we never got closed than about 400 yards from the dam.

Took my 12-year-old to Whitman Saturday to get him on some open water fishing but the slow bite continued. We only managed 2 keeper walleye, 1 15″ and 17″ and 2 eater saugers to round out the fry pan. We caught on keeper on a lindy rig and the other casting a zip blade bait. A fwe short walleyes, a bunch of small sauger and one 3# pike to round out the day.

There were about 8 boats drifing a 35-55′ run catching small saugers…

The rain today, and being out the last 3 days, will keep me off the water today.

Yeah looking out the window looks like a great day to sit in and watch the race. We where at 5a yesterday at noon and didnt end up with a fish for an hour and half on the water. I only seen two fish get caught in that hour hour and half. Better luck maybe this week.

I put in at the Fountain City Ford ramp but there were commercial fishermen opening the municipal ramp on Friday and there were several fishing rigs launched from there on Saturday.